RE: Evaluation checklist - monitoring s/w - LONG

"We are currently NT bound, but there might be a possibility of Unix
introduced too"

You removed the essence from your kaphy (coffee)

Rao

--
On Mon, 18 Dec 2000 08:06:28
Mark Leith wrote:
>Hi Sean,>>Being from a sales oriented background, and having had to deal with>countless evaluations of these very tools, I feel my insight may be of>benefit.>>To be fair, every tool should be tested on the exact same environment,>without another tool running along side it at the same time as tests. They>can conflict, and cause each other to perform "badly". The tool must be>graphically easy to use, and have a relatively low learning curve.>>Depending on the level of monitoring, you may also want to have a background>agent monitoring you databases without a GUI open at all times. If this is>the case, what platforms will this agent support? You say you may move in to>UNIX, so plan for the future, and add this in to your checklist. Typically>you will find that the major players - Sun, AIX, DEC, HP, NT, LINUX, are>almost always supported now, but there are some tools out there that need a>specific platform already in place to be able to use the tool (Foglight ->Quest - needs a dedicated Solaris system to run its Server on)>>I would include these background agents as a must have if you are planning>to monitor real business critical systems. They will ensure that the>databases are being constantly monitored at all times. There are a number of>tools where the front end client just connects via SQL*Net/Net8, and>monitors in a kind of diagnostic mode. The question you then have to ask is,>what happens if this PC is shutdown for the weekend etc..>>Now from background experience, here is my list of must, useful, and nice to>have options. I would also have to add that as minimum requirement a tool>should be able to monitor this information both re & pro actively.>>MUST HAVE>>1) Space Issues>> Tablespace - Space allocated.> Free Space.>> Tables - Space Allocated.> Unused space at block level.> Proximity to max extents.>> Indexes - Space Allocated.> Unused space at block level.> Proximity to max extents.>> RBS - High Water Mark.> Shrinks.> Extends.> Wraps.>> Archive/Error Log Space.> Space Bound Objects.>>2) Database Usage>> Sessions - Number of Sessions> CPU Usage per> I/O Per> Identifier - SID/PID/Terminal/User name> Current SQL> Locks / Blocking> Sorts - memory/disk> Transactions per second> Average Transaction time>> Memory - SGA memory allocation> Block Buffer Cache> Buffer hit ratios> Shared Pool> Redo Log buffer cache> SQL Area - monitoring for resource intensive SQL.> Data Dictionary Cache Miss %> Library Cache Hit %>>> I/0 - Datafile Physical I/O> Logical I/O>>3) Alerting>> The tool should be able to alert on any problems with the previous areas of>interest.> You should be able to set up a reasonable time schedule of where and when>to alert certain people. If you are a 24x7 shop, you may need to send out>of hours alerts to a pager, or maybe SMS to you mobile phone.>> Can the tool send a corrective SQL/OS script to fix the problem? How>flexible are the event/alert functions? Can I write my own? Do I need a>"specialist" contractor to come set these up for me?>> Alert on new error log message.> Instance Down>>USEFUL>>1) Historical Information>> Many tools will store a repository of performance information. It may be>useful to set up criteria on any information you may need to pull up about>past usage of Oracle - transactions per minute/hour.>> You can also use the historical information for things such as capacity>planning and so on.>>2) MTS information>> Dispatcher counts> Queue Length> Waits> Percent Busy> Requests>>3) Replication monitoring>> Broken Jobs> Replication validation>>>4) Parameter information.>> INIT file parameters, for quick reference.>>5) Log switching.>>>NICE>>1) O/S Monitoring>> Many, many people when evaluating Oracle performance tools, also want to>have the functionality to monitor O/S statistics as well. Things such as>overall CPU usage, I/O, process information, active jobs etc. Whilst all co>uld arguably be of great use to a DBA, most tools will not have this>functionality. A useful thing to find out is if the vendor doe actually>supply these kinds of tools, and if so, how well integrated are they?>>2) An E-DBA>> Wouldn't it be nice for a performance tool to alert, fix, diagnose future>performance problems, fix them before they happen, then open your CD drive>to rest your plastic coffee mug in to? Hmm.. that would be nice from a>tool..>>3) Tips - There are some tools out there that will give hints on performance>problems, and maybe tips on how to fix these problems. Sometimes these can>be a little out of whack, but many are extremely helpful for diagnosing>problems on the fly, as they draw your attention.>>4) A good help file!>>>Have I bored you enough? I'll quickly say - Licensing can vary between the>different vendors, there are some out there that license per instance, some>per server, and a rare few that license per DBA client irrespective of how>many instances they touch. Depending on the number of servers and number of>instances per server, this can make the costs vary extensively! I heard>recently that Quest were trying to charge on the criticality of a system!>>Maintenance is usually around the 18-20% of the full license cost. If you>get a discount on the full license, you will sometimes still have to pay 20%>of the LIST PRICE license cost though, regardless of discount!>>Maintenance should cover full 24x7 support, with all upgrades included. It's>usually a good idea to go over all agreements to double check for yourself>on any possible areas of concern.>>Right, I'm off for a coffee now, but before I go ->><Shameless Plug>>>We have a tool that you may want to take a look at! If you are interested,>contact me away from the list, and I will get all of the information over to>you. You may/may not have heard of it. A hell of a lot of people haven't>which really does surprise me! Mostly just due to the vendors poor marketing>strategy though! The tool is cool though! It's called DBGeneral, shortly>rebadging under the name of NORAD! This is to bring it in to line with a new>O/S, App monitoring tool being released on the 15th of Jan.>>Shameless Plug/>>>Right, mines black with 3 sugars please..>>Regards>>Mark Leith>Cool Tools UK Ltd>>Tel: 01905 330 281>email: mark_at_cool-tools.co.uk>>---snip--->>Hi Folks,>>Early next year I'm planning to evaluate and select Oracle DB monitoring>s/w. We are currently NT bound, but there might be a possibility of Unix>introduced too. Anyhow, to help select the monitoring software I am>planning to put together an evaluation checklist to try and objectively>compare the various offerings out there. I'd appreciate it if you would let>me know what features you think a monitoring package should have, e.g. in>categories, "must have", "useful to have", "nice to have" (if you can afford>it???). It would be also useful to hear feedback from you folk who already>have such software on other factors such as, support level, costs (licences,>annual maintenance), or even such aspirations as "looking back what I should>have gone for was", or "but nowadays the xxxx package does this and more".>>In return for your time and feedback I'll publish the evaluation sheet to>members of the list for everyone to use if they choose to do so.>>Oh! and of course if there is already an evaluation sheet in existence that>folk know of, I'll cut to the chase there ;)>>Sean :)>>>-- >Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.com>-- >Author: Mark Leith> INET: mark_at_cool-tools.co.uk>>Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051>San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists>-------------------------------------------------------------------->To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message>to: ListGuru_at_fatcity.com (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in>the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L